Nice Guys Don't Always Finish Last

Having spent many years working in restaurants, I consider myself to be overly sympathetic to people in any service industry. There will always be problems in any job, but for some reason when customers don't get their way in the service industry, heads roll. Patrons receiving poor customer service, sometimes think they are entitled to verbally abuse, yell, and be down right nasty to the opposing employee. In reality, by elevating your aggression towards an employee you are less likely to get what you want.

Example:
Tech support is less likely to help with your computer problems after you tell them how incompetent they are, and how horrible their product is.

If you are tack full in your approach to solving problems, you may not only get the problem solved, you can also come out ahead. A while back, I was at the airport renting a car. The woman behind the counter was having trouble with her computer, and forced us to wait for what seemed like eternity. I could have caused a scene, and demanded to see the manager. Instead, I politely told her that these things happen, and I understood. After patiently waiting, she upgraded me to one of their sports cars, because I was so understanding. The sports car made the rest of my trip that much more enjoyable, and the extra 4 mins spent at the counter, now seems insignificant. There is really no excuse to be rude to others in life, nothing is really gained. So The next time there is a problem, dont fly off the handle, the problem will still get resolved, and you may end up better off in the end.